Society & Civility
Ann Marshal, eighteen, was raised in the country and has a love for natural history in this Regency romance. Lady Harrington, a family friend, offers to take Ann to London for the Season; Ann would rather not go, but her father persuades her. There she meets the Barneses, Charles and his two young adult children Tom and Olivia, and she comes to enjoy their company. She shares an interest in nature with Charles. As Olivia prepares for her wedding, Ann spends a lot of time with Tom, and commits the social solecism of dancing too many times with him at a single party, giving rise to gossip. Then Ann discovers the secret of her parentage: she is actually the child of a different man, not Mr. Marshal, but a wealthy businessman. Now her life is complicated—where does she belong? Is she really an heiress? Should she marry Tom as society seems to expect, or confess her attraction for Tom’s father Charles, despite the difference in their ages?
Cerulean creates interesting characters, and the plot holds promise, if the book were to be edited further. I felt that the story lacked enough conflict to be compelling. Ann’s dilemma about whether/whom to marry doesn’t have much at stake, her suitors all seem eligible and nice enough, and she doesn’t have to worry about money. A further editing need: when an author uses expressions that are too modern (“one-upped,” “scallywag,” “wooden nickel”), or the book has outright typos that should have been fixed: “pouched (i.e., poached) quail,” “it was for not (i.e., naught),” then I have difficulty staying immersed in the period, which should be a chief pleasure of the genre. There’s potential here if the novel receives further polishing, but as it stands now, I can’t recommend it.
